Meituan's drones have reached an average daily order volume of 1,000, surpassing the order scale of Wing Aviation, a drone delivery company under Google.
The three major platforms' concentrated efforts in the low-altitude economy represent both a necessary response to industry development trends and a strategic extension based on their core business needs.
The 'battlefield' of instant retail is expanding from the ground to low-altitude airspace.
The STAR Market Daily learned that Taobao Flash Purchase launched the first drone 'aggregated delivery' route in Guangzhou-Haizhu yesterday (December 25). Users can enjoy flash purchase and flash delivery services via drones without additional delivery fees.
It is understood that the 'aggregated delivery' route, jointly developed by Taobao Flash Purchase and Xunyi Technology, primarily addresses scenarios involving long-distance urban deliveries, cross-river and cross-bridge routes where two-wheeled deliveries are inefficient, orders are sparse, and coverage is challenging. Through batched delivery models, this route not only effectively resolves the pain points of slow traditional delivery times and low order density but also significantly reduces operational costs.
The head of Taobao Flash Purchase's drone project emphasized in an interview with The STAR Market Daily that drone-based food delivery is not intended to replace rider-based delivery but rather serves as a complement to the existing service system, focusing on long-distance demands and filling capacity gaps in special scenarios such as islands, industrial parks, and scenic areas.
In fact, this represents Taobao Flash Purchase’s continued progress in the low-altitude sector. Its predecessor, Ele.me, launched drone-based food delivery services in 2018 and has since implemented multiple routes across several cities, including Hefei, Hangzhou, Zhoushan, and Guangzhou.
The aforementioned official stated that, with the cooperation of various local authorities, relevant departments, and ecosystem partners, Taobao Flash Purchase is upgrading its comprehensive flash purchase service capabilities, aiming to create a replicable and scalable commercial model for low-altitude logistics, thereby contributing to the improvement of urban smart logistics networks.
It is evident that key players in the instant retail sector are currently ramping up investment in drone-based delivery solutions.
In the low-altitude sector, as early as the organizational restructuring in February last year,$MEITUAN-W (03690.HK)$Founder and CEO Wang Xing placed the drone business under his direct supervision, highlighting the importance attached to this sector.
From the perspective of implementation progress, Meituan drones have established a global operational footprint. Since December last year, it has successively launched routes in Hong Kong, China, and Dubai; in September this year, nighttime delivery services officially went live in Shenzhen; just last week, Meituan drones unveiled multiple core products, including a low-altitude air network, intelligent docking airports, and a new generation of drones, further enhancing its technological and infrastructure layout.
Mao Yinian, Vice President of Meituan and head of the drone business unit, revealed at last week’s low-altitude aviation network launch event that to date, Meituan drones have opened 65 routes across multiple cities including Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Dubai, cumulatively completing 740,000 commercial delivery orders.
Notably, at the end of September this year, the data showed 670,000 orders, and within just two months, the order volume increased by 70,000, averaging 1,000 orders per day. More remarkably, this order scale has surpassed$Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$the drone delivery company Wing Aviation under its umbrella.
In contrast, JD.com has chosen to enter the low-altitude sector through the entire supply chain. Recently, JD Logistics announced an ambitious plan to procure 3 million robots, 1 million unmanned vehicles, and 100,000 drones over the next five years, fully covering logistics processes such as warehousing, sorting, and delivery, thereby constructing an integrated 'air-ground' intelligent supply chain system.
Zhu Keli, founding president of the Guoyan New Economy Research Institute and director of the Greater Bay Area Low-Altitude Economy Research Institute, told reporters from The Science and Technology Board Daily that the concentrated push by the three major platforms into the low-altitude economy is both an inevitable response to industry development trends and a strategic extension based on their core business needs. Against the backdrop of increasingly stringent delivery time requirements in the instant retail industry, ground-based deliveries are often constrained by traffic congestion and terrain limitations. The point-to-point transportation model offered by drones can effectively address capacity shortfalls, reduce delivery times, and precisely meet the core demands of instant retail.
Zhu Keli analyzed that the low-altitude layouts of the three major platforms exhibit differentiated positioning characteristics:$MEITUAN-W (03690.HK)$Focusing on urban end-point instant delivery scenarios, they validate commercial feasibility through high-density order operations; $JD-SW (09618.HK)$Deepening the entire supply chain logistics process, they enhance logistics efficiency through large-scale intelligent equipment investments; Taobao Flash Purchase explores the integration path of retail and low-altitude logistics with the 'aggregation delivery' model to solve long-distance delivery challenges. All three leverage their core business strengths to form distinctive development paths.
Nevertheless, the path to commercialization of low-altitude logistics still faces multiple hurdles. Zhu Keli emphasized that the industry remains in a critical phase of overcoming challenges and improving quality. Four core areas—technology, cost, compliance, and user awareness—require breakthroughs. Additionally, on the compliance front, airspace management regulations and approval processes need further standardization, while insurance mechanisms and safety responsibility allocations require clarification.
Editor/melody